For mayor, not too early to get fired up about ice hockey coming to Savannah in 2022

What is now concrete and steel will be a sparkling new arena, and what in the drizzle Wednesday was mud and pools of water will be the frozen ice of a hockey rink.

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson can envision opening night for the new professional ice hockey team in October 2022 at the Hostess City’s showplace, the $165 million Savannah Arena.

“It’s going to be pandemonium,” Mayor Johnson said. “It’s going to be a city that has overcome COVID-19, that has graduated to its new normal being together again, enjoying Savannah’s love with Savannah’s hockey team in our brand new arena.”

Savannah on ice:Minor league ice hockey coming to Savannah's new arena

The multi-purpose facility, which Johnson described as “the biggest municipal project in the city of Savannah’s storied 287-year history,” is designed to host music concerts as well as sporting and other events.

The first tenant, announced officially with a news conference Wednesday at the construction site, is an ECHL expansion team beginning with the 2022-23 season to start that October. The arena is scheduled to be completed in February 2022.

The mayor, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and sports fan who has attended New York Rangers and New York Islanders games, can’t wait for 2022. Standing at a podium Wednesday in what will be the home team locker room, he fired the first shots at likely South Division rivals in the ECHL, which is regarded as a Double-A developmental league.

“Savannah is all about winning. We win,” Johnson said. “Jacksonville is going down. Atlanta is going down. Greenville is going down. North Charleston? Toast.”

That might have been awkward for some of the men sitting in the first row, who were from the front office of the Jacksonville (Florida) Icemen. Except the group led by owner Andy Kaufmann also will be guiding the expansion team in Savannah.

“They’re both our babies,” said Kaufmann, 43, a Jacksonville resident for about 18 years. “We will say may the best team win when they face off, but clearly we’re committed to putting a championship-caliber team on the ice here.

“When I’m in Savannah, it’s all Savannah,” he added.

And he’s all in on Savannah, and will add a residence for him and his family in town.

From the ground up

“I believe in the group we have here,” said Kaufmann, who also owns a minor league baseball team in Fort Myers, Florida, where he stays during the summer season. “We’ve done it in other markets from start-up, from scratch. Not literally from the ground up like this, but we have a track record and you guys have an amazing city. These open arms for us, we’re going to make you proud, I promise.”

For reasons to expect success, he pointed to the Oak View Group, which operates and manages the arena. He noted the popularity of the Savannah Bananas, a collegiate summer league baseball team that is the toughest sports ticket in town. He thanked the mayor and city council for their support in this venture.

More:Savannah City Council approves 5 more years of Bananas

“Every element you need to have a successful team in a market, it’s here,” Kaufmann said. “We’ve had other opportunities we’ve passed on. This was like a slam dunk. It required very little thought.”

His group was approved by the ECHL Board of Governors in a unanimous vote earlier this month, with the Icemen’s representative abstaining, said league commissioner Ryan Crelin.

“We’ve had some success in non-traditional hockey markets,” Crelin said. “This market, with the Civic Center downtown has had the (college) hockey tournament for a number of years that does well. The geography is perfect for our league. When you put all those factors together, we think it’s going to be a huge success.”

The league has 26 teams, including Atlanta, Greenville, S.C.; North Charleston, S.C.; Jacksonville, Orlando and Estero, Florida.

“That really rounds out our Southern Division, non-traditional hockey markets that have grown into hockey markets,” Crelin said.

“From an ECHL standpoint, having this additional lead time before 2022-23 is perfect. We know the ownership group. We know the management team. We have the utmost confidence in them. This allows them extra time to do more things, get into the community early because they’re not worried about playing hockey games. That’s a recipe for success.”

The Savannah franchise will have a fan contest to name the team. A website is already up, savannahprohockey.com, as well as accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Fans can already submit deposits to reserve season tickets.

Peter Luukko is a hockey guy through and through, with experience as a player, coach and administrator, including at the NHL level. He’s also the chairman of the Oak View Group Facilities. He knows there are some Northern transplants in the Coastal Empire who already know and love hockey.

He thinks others should give it a chance.

“The sport itself is so exciting,” Luukko said. “We always say, if we can get a fan just to one game, they’ll come to a lot of games. The beauty of the ECHL is it’s family-affordable fun. That’s very important.”

Nathan Dominitz is the Sports Content Editor of the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com. Contact him at ndominitz@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @NathanDominitz